In our article titled “Michael Kadoorie 101: Billionaire Businessman from Hong Kong”, we will delve into everything you need to know about Michael Kadoorie, the billionaire businessman from Hong Kong that our readers at Zatrun.com are curious about, in detail.
Who is Michael Kadoorie?
Sir Michael David Kadoorie, born in 1941, is a billionaire businessman from Hong Kong who serves as the chairman and 18% shareholder of CLP Group, the largest electricity producer in Hong Kong. He also owns 47% of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels.
Born as the son of businessman Lawrence Kadoorie (1899-1993) and his wife Muriel Gubbay, Michael Kadoorie received his education at Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland and Kowloon Junior School in Hong Kong. His family’s business roots in the Far East can be traced back to his grandfather, who was originally from Baghdad, Iraq and settled in Shanghai in 1880. After a stint in Bombay, his grandfather made a fortune in Shanghai, which was largely lost in 1949.
Michael Kadoorie later expanded the family business in Hong Kong through finance, real estate, and services. Shortly after 1949, Kadoorie’s father and uncle expanded the family’s diversified group of businesses, which is now managed by CLP Holdings Ltd. Michael Kadoorie lived in Hong Kong with his wife, Cuban-American Lady Betty Tamayo, who passed away on June 20, 2021, in Houston, Texas. The couple had three children: Natalie, Bettina, and Philip. His sister, Rita Laura Kadoorie, is married to Hong Kong billionaire Ronald McAulay.
Career Life
Michael Kadoorie is the Chairman of CLP Holdings Ltd, a service company founded by his family in 1890 and still owns a 35% stake in it. This utility company provides electricity to 75% of Hong Kong as the sole operator in Kowloon and the New Territories (licensed under the Scheme of Control), and has equity investments in power plants in China, Southeast Asia, Australia, and India. He is also the Chairman of Peninsula Hotel Group, the family’s second-largest listed group and the owner and operator of Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels.
He holds control of Metrojet Ltd and serves as the director of Heliservices (HK) Ltd, and also founded CLP Research Institute, a subsidiary of CLP Holdings, which researches renewable energy development. Michael Kadoorie serves as a board member in various companies outside the Kadoorie family. He was appointed as a member of the Council of the University of Hong Kong, and the Kadoorie Biological Sciences Building was opened at the university in 2000. He is a member of the board of directors of Kadoorie Charitable Foundation.
He was honored with the Legion of Honour by the French government and named Commander of the Order of Leopold II by Belgium. In June 2005, he was appointed as a Knight Bachelor in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Hong Kong in 2004.
Car Collector
In addition to his photography hobby, Kadoorie is also a helicopter pilot and a classic car collector. He owns rare automobiles, including a Bugatti Type 57, 1932 Rolls-Royce Phantom II by Thrupp & Maberly, 1934 Hispano-Suiza J12 Vanvooren Cabriolet, 1969 Lamborghini Miura P400 S, 1924 Vauxhall 30-98 Tourer, Talbot T150 CSS Pourtout coupé (former car of racing driver “Pagnibon”), Gurney Nutting-bodied Rolls-Royce Phantom III, and Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost. In 1998, he was seriously injured in a car accident with his vintage Ferrari, which had been restored, when the forked tires of the two-wheel rims crossed paths. He spent two months in John Radcliffe Hospital for treatment.
